


Admittances

by autisticprincess



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, If this reads poorly please keep in mind author is ace/demi, Injured Character, Injury Recovery, Love Confessions, Not Beta Read, Romance, Toppat Recruits Ending | TR (Henry Stickmin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29255199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticprincess/pseuds/autisticprincess
Summary: After the successful launch of the Toppats' orbital station, Henry goes to visit Ellie in the station's medbay. While he's there, feelings blossom forth, whether he wants them to or not.
Relationships: Henry Stickmin/Ellie Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Admittances

The doors hissed as they slid open and Henry stepped inside the white and sterile medbay, his eyes immediately landing on his reason for visiting. Ellie sat up a little straighter in the bed as her eyes met Henry’s, smiling at her (literal) partner-in-crime. Henry returned the smile, feeling his heart beat just a little bit faster as he did so.

“Hey, Henry,” Ellie greeted as the man stepped closer until he was standing by her bedside.

“Hey, Ellie,” Henry greeted back. “How are you feeling?”

“Still have a headache,” Ellie groaned, putting a hand to her head. “But at least it’s getting better.”

“That’s good,” Henry sighed. It had given him quite a fright when Dmitri turned out to have survived their onslaught (though Henry would admit he isn’t the best shot) and knocked out Ellie. At least that bastard was _definitely_ gone for good now and Ellie was recovering. Henry had to admit he was scared for Ellie when she’d been injured and had to be taken to the medbay. With how hard Dmitri had hit her, he was worried that she’d been severely injured or worse. Fortunately, though, she’d only suffered a minor concussion, and the Toppat’s leader had been kind enough to postpone their induction ceremony until she recovered (though Henry wasn’t exactly looking forward to returning the ruby he had stolen from them).

“Man, I can’t wait to get out of here,” Ellie groaned. “It’s so boring being stuck in bed all day.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Henry laughed. From what he knew about her, Ellie didn’t seem like the type of person that enjoyed idling about. She was always so excited when she was regaling Henry with tales of her past heists, and hung on Henry’s every word when he told her about his own. Henry didn’t know if she had turned to a life of crime out of necessity like he did, since neither had talked about their pasts before becoming criminals, nor had either pressed.

“I was really worried about you, you know,” Henry stated softly, blushing as he looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet.

“Yeah, I know,” Ellie said, giving a small huff of laughter. “But it takes more than a cheap shot to take me out.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed, glancing back up at Ellie before averting his gaze once more. Another thing Henry would admit was that he’d developed romantic feelings for Ellie following their escape from the Wall. Sure, he’d only known her for a short time in the grand scheme of things, but he just couldn’t help himself. Everything about her was amazing! She was strong, smart, fearless, pretty, and she didn’t care that he was a criminal because she was one, too. But how could he tell her? They’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks. Not to mention they had only really teamed up in the first place out of necessity, only developing what could be called an actual friendship after escaping and going on the run, with nothing to do but talk and get to know each other. What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if this made things awkward between them? Would their ultimate goal of joining the Toppat Clan together end with them avoiding each other whenever possible and awkward silences and eye aversions when they couldn’t?

“Henry?” Henry snapped out of his anxiety-riddled contemplation at the sound of his name. He looked up to see Ellie looking at him in concern, making his heart flutter in his chest like a trapped bird. “Are you okay? You kinda spaced out for a minute there.”

“Oh, y-yeah, I’m fine,” Henry stammered, mentally kicking himself for doing so. Ellie raised an eyebrow, looking like she didn’t quite believe him. “O-kay…” Ellie drawled out. “Well, you know if you do have something you need to get off your chest, I’m here.”

“Yeah…” Henry whispered. Ellie stared at him, silently pleading with him to just tell her what was wrong, but Henry stayed silent. Ellie sighed.

“Well, thanks for visiting me, Henry,” she said.

“No problem,” Henry said, a small smile gracing his features. “I’ll be sure to visit you again soon.” Henry, for the life of him, couldn’t tell you why he had done what he did next. Autopilot? Emotions clouding his judgement? He didn’t know. All he did know was that, before he realized what he was doing in time to stop himself, he’d leaned down and kissed Ellie’s head. Once Henry realized what had happened, he froze like a deer in the headlights, a bright red blush blooming across his face. He stared at Ellie, whose face was equally flushed. The two stared at each other in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity until Henry managed to find his voice again. “I-I-I’m so sorry, E-Ellie!” Henry stuttered. “I-I don’t know what—I-I didn’t mean—I-I’ll just g-go now…” He turned to leave, feeling like an utter fool. Why had he done that? Now Ellie probably hated him! Everything they’ve been through to get here would all be for nothing, all because of this one dumb mistake. But then he felt a hand grab his own.

“Henry, wait,” Ellie pleaded softly. Henry hesitantly turned to look at her. She was staring at him with wide eyes, still blushing. God, she was beautiful. Henry couldn’t help but feel a bit weak in the knees at the sight. “Henry, do you…have feelings for me?” Henry sighed. Well, there was no point in hiding it now.

“Yeah, I do.” Henry averted his gaze once more. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I understand if you don’t feel the same way…”

“No, no!” Ellie interjected, causing Henry to look back at her. Now _she_ was the one avoiding _his_ gaze. “I…I like you, too.” Henry was floored. For all his pining over Ellie, he’d never really considered that _she_ may also be pining over _him_.

“Y-you do?” he managed to choke out. Ellie blushed more, and took quite a bit of willpower for Henry not to pass out.

“Yeah…” she stated. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before. I just…didn’t know if you felt the same way…”

“I didn’t know if _you_ felt the same way,” Henry confessed. Ellie chuckled.

“Are you kidding?” she scoffed. “Henry, you’re an amazing guy. You saved me at the Wall when you didn’t have any real reason to. _Twice!_ " Well, Henry did have to admit that was true, now that he really thought about it. He hadn’t really _had_ to help Ellie escape along with him. He could’ve taken his chances with charge-tackling Grigori. He could’ve waited to be transferred to his own cell and come up with a plan there. He could’ve faked his own death. Hell, he could’ve simply left Ellie behind after she boosted him up to that vent (though that thought make his stomach turn). Yet he'd chosen to bring her with him to repay her for helping him out. He could’ve also abandoned her when she was recaptured by Grigori, but instead he chose to save her by distracting Grigori long enough for him to get hit by a car.

“Well, so did you,” Henry responded. When Dmitri had tackled Henry off the motorcycle and Ellie had ridden away, Henry had thought she’d abandoned him. But then she had come riding in brandishing a stop sign and knocking the warden’s lights out, and Henry was almost sure he’d fallen for her right then and there. At first, he’d tried to dismiss it as simply being the “suspension bridge effect” at work, but the more time they spent together without the worry of being pursued or the fear of being caught, the more he started to doubt that was the case.

Ellie laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did.” The two were then silent for a moment before Ellie spoke up again. “So…are we a thing now?”

“Do you want us to be a thing?” Henry asked. Ellie blushed.

“I…think I do,” she stated softly. Henry smiled.

“Then so do I,” he responded. The two looked at each other for a moment before moving in for a kiss. But before they did, they stopped and pulled back. Not yet. But someday. “I’ll see you later,” Henry said, smiling. Ellie smiled back.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll see you.” And with that Henry left, feeling like he was walking on air.


End file.
